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McCain, Lieberman, and Gadhafi Walk Into a Bar ...

I wrote yesterday about how President Obama may be wrong to believe that he has “no permanent enemies” -- especially when it comes to the Republican leadership hell-bent on destroying him. Well, once he figures that out, maybe he could teach John McCain and Joe Lieberman a thing or two.

And, in a cable brought to us by the First Amendment heroes at Wikileaks, here’s Sen. Joe Lieberman who, after a meeting with Gadhafi, McCain, and other senators, praised Libya as “an important ally in the war on terrorism,” apparently adding that “common enemies sometimes make better friends.”

(h/t @GregMitch)

Allow me to suggest that friends don’t let friends bomb their palaces. From which one of two conclusions can be drawn: Either conservatives who questionably support democracy are more than happy to cozy up with abominable-yet-somewhat-like-minded dictators -- at least until given the option of bombing them -- or the United States should fundamentally rethink its tendency to befriend characters like Mubarak or even Gadhafi, prioritizing “U.S. interests” over the interests of humanity, citizens of other country, the globe, the fate of the entire world as we know it, etc.

For the record, 83 percent of Americans think U.S. foreign policy should focus on partnering with other countries “according to shared ideas of what is best for the world as a whole.” A mere 16 percent think we should use our power solely or even primarily to protect “U.S. interests.”

One has to wonder if McCain and Lieberman were thinking about “what is best for the world as a whole” when they were patting Gadhafi on the back.